Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill is delighted with Curtis Davies' surprise return to action from a long-standing Achilles injury.

He told Villa's website: "I'm pleasantly surprised to see Curtis back so quickly. I couldn't have seen it when he picked up the injury. He has confounded people by his quick return.

"He's done amazingly well but he's still well short of what I would call serious match practice. He played a little bit of a game against Notts County to get into things.

"Saturday was great for him against a very good set of forwards. His sharpness is obviously something he'll be working on but it was really great to see him back."